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Comment by BigCryo | Hacker News Reader

I like the GOP plan to end the income tax and defund the IRS and replace it all with a consumption tax

Consumption taxes hit low income people the hardest and also reduce consumption.

What you are suggesting is the biggest redestribution of wealth in US history, putting a lot more money into the super riches pockets.

It might also severly damage the US economy.

Yeah we cannot damage our sacred economy

Why would we change it to make the rich richer and the poor poorer?

?? Are you suggesting we should damage the economy? Or that we should be cavalier about risking it?

Uh huh

That's why the plan includes sending a check / refund to every person, to offset the "tax free income amount", IIRC.

Also - rich people don't really pay income and capital taxes because they have ways to avoid them altogether. (All these "charity funds" they make are just tax avoidance schemes).

Sales tax instead of income tax would be a huge time saver, and effectively work exactly like an income tax, without all the waste.

"Taxing the rich" could be achieved via other means if desired. Some wealth tax (let's say over 100M of net worth, .5%/year or something like that).

And income taxes hit high income people the hardest. It's not fair that I have to pay 6 figures of taxes when other people get away with paying multitudes less than me.

You could choose to have less money and pay less taxes.

It doesn’t go the other way.

It's an unpleasant reality but those 6 figures in taxes are all that stands between you and a hungry mob ripping your throat out.

And the rest of us think it is more than fair. I also pay a shitload of taxes. But I'd rather it come from me than from my sister, who makes 10% of what I make.

Considering Europe has a VAT of over 20% (27% in Hungary, 25% in Sweden), I'm thinking the consequences are more manageable than you think.

Hungary has a VAT of 27% and a flat income tax of 15%. VAT doesn't replace income tax, it complements it. Then there are vehicle taxes, property taxes, and so on.

Sure, but is there a reasonable why you couldn't replace a flat 15% income tax with a higher VAT (consumption) tax?

I don't see why not.

The only place where left advocates and the tax prep industry see eye to eye is that there should be incomes taxes

This would destroy the economy, probably faster than a nuke dropped on Manhattan.

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